Notable views
 

An example of Palm Drive's fame a hundred years ago. Here is a set of turn-of-the-last-century stereoviews by Underwood & Underwood. Among the subjects selected for inclusion in this set were:

The President of the United States
Venice, Italy
Michaelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's
Holy sites in Jerusalem
A Yellowstone geyser
A Norwegian fjord

and

The "Avenue of the Palms," Los Angeles, California.

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...eocardtext.jpg
moonstar13579 on eBay

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...stereocard.jpg
moonstar13579 on eBay

-Scott

You can still faintly see a sign that says that on the side of the building in the photo.

well!........you learn something new everyday................

In September of 1929, the fine art gallery of Henry braxton opened in the vine street brown derby building, (which was originally owned and built for Cecil B. DeMille as a spec mixed use office building).

The Vine Street building shortly after it's completion prior to the Brown Derby moving in on Valentines Day 1929.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kKNEIbyfSK...00/Braxton.jpg
Source: South California Architectural History

anyway............Henry Braxton, on the advice of Galka Scheyer the modernism art patron, retained the service of Rudolph Schindler to design his Hollywood Braxton Gallery in the Brown Derby Building.

Front Entry and elevation

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VLa8wvvPhV.../s1600/003.jpg
Source: South California Architectural History

Floor Plan

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jz_9vl_pub...25281%2529.jpg
Source: South California Architectural History


Photograph of the entry, and the interior of the gallery

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Pmjd5_C6-M...9,+Braxton.jpg
Source: South California Architectural History

wow!

I knew about the Braxton Gallery but I had idea it was in the Vine Street Brown Derby building.
I LOVE the sign outside the gallery. I wish I could tell what it's made of (metal rods and fabric?)
And it would be sublime to see the colors.

I would REALLY like to have that 'motor coaches' sign.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5...almtlonfli.jpg
MLT






below: A drive-thru grocery store in Los Angeles, March 1949.
Have any of you heard of a drive-in or drive-thru grocery store in the L.A. area?

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/9...erymarch19.jpg
unknown

I'm not sure how this was suppose to work. Did the customer call in their order and then drive through to pick it up?
Did the customer slowly drive through the store and point out the items that they wanted to purchase and then pay at the end?
In the photo above, the driver/customer seems to have gotten out of his car which seems to defeat the whole purpose of a drive-thru grocery store anyway.


Notice the heavy duty stanchions set up so the drivers wouldn't accidentally wipe out the deli counter.

this is how it usually worked...........................

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...63EFD8B79?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive


on-he-stly occifer...no won wars drivin'....we wuz all in-da backseat singin'

lol......perhaps they called Bell Auto Works.


http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/3743/00bellauto.jpg
ebay



http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/493/00bellauto1a.jpg
ebay





The Bell Auto Works building is still there today.......barely surviving the construction of the 10 Freeway.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/222...633shopest.jpg
google street views



http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/1922/00belltoday.jpg
google street view

Speaking of Rudolph Schindler and the Braxton Gallery. Here is a color photo of the Schindler designed Sardi's on Hollywood Blvd..
I know numerous photographs of Sardi's have been posted throughout this thread but I don't recall this one.

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/1133/sunknown.jpg
theblackdahliainhollywood





below: The interior

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/7073/szilfflickr.jpg
zilf/flickr

I'm not sure why the woman is pushing an iron lung. ;)

Here is snapshot dated Jan. 11, 1935.
Notice the glass blocks embedded in the sidewalks of downtown Los Angeles.


http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1...kjan111935.jpg
mary hockenbery (her mom) / flickr

I didn't realize until recently that the basements of many of these older buildings
extended under the sidewalks to the edge of the street.

Any idea what she's carrying-- wallpaper samples? Yoga mat? ;)



__

Is she the dim sum lady? :D



Oh yes, some of them still do, if I recall correctly.

I remember as a kid being fascinated by the glass blocks in the sidewalk, and back then I never knew what it was for, and I never bothered to ask my parents. And up until this thread, I never thought of them as having a firefighting use, I've always assumed them to be just to allow natural light to enter a basement.

You see glass blocks in some of the sidewalks in Old Town Pasadena, as well as in the historic business district of South Pasadena. In fact, when the city of South Pas decided to redo/beautify the old business district 3 years ago or so, they ran into problems with the glass blocks; they decided to leave them the way they were and just redo the sidewalks around them with new concrete (the original plan was to repave all the sidewalks with brick; the brick was just used for the new bulb-outs they installed).

sometimes. nothing screams los angeles noir quite like a newspaper advertisement................

1940 los angeles times florentine gardens advertisement

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/...86b1fc10_b.jpg
Source: Los Angeles times blog

hollywood palladium opennig night 1940 advertisement in the los angeles times

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5280/...a65a5541_b.jpg
Source: Los Angeles Times Blog

strip city advertisement, los angeles times 1957

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2320/...846fde54_b.jpg
Source: Los Angeles Times Blog

1952 advertisement for an amazing jazz concert at the olympic auditorium

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5032/...c30882ab_b.jpg
Source: Los Angeles Times Blog

Footbridge over the old railyards
 

Does anyone remember an ancient wooden footbridge that crossed the old railyards on the northern edge of Downtown? (I think they call it the Cornfield now.)

Anyway, sometime in the 1970s or early 80s I remember seeing this bridge, but it must have fallen down or been demolished soon after. Unless I'm totally misremembering, I started to walk across it one time, but decided to turn back after a few paces. I didn't trust it. IIRC it wasn't far from the Capitol Milling site.

:previous:

the old footbridge that spanned the cornfield yards between spring and broadway

http://lacreekfreak.files.wordpress....ng?w=450&h=337
Source: L.A. Creek Freak

image is looking north west from spring towards broadway

the footbridge is visble right of center in this 1958 aerial looking north on broadway

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058389.jpg
Source: LAPL

1924 aerial of the rail yards, the footbridge is center of the photograph

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics25/00032359.jpg
Source: LAPL

the footbridge as it appeared in the great noir classic, This Gun For Hire, looking from broadway towards spring

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2161/...93fe5e10_o.jpg
Source: Noir Repository

:previous:
Great aerial shots, gsjansen. I love that film, too. I think of it whenever I ride the Gold Line train into downtown from South Pasadena and zip by the Cornfield, now a park, of course.


I posted these pics on another thread dealing with new downtown LA developments, but I wasn't aware that old Loew's State Theatre building on the southwest corner of 7th and Broadway was going to be remodeled into this:

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/5...5rendering.jpg
USC Archive

Thankfully it wasn't.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013809.jpg
LAPL

dayum! once i get on something.....i am tenacious!

(the last one....i promise.......for now)

a great aerial of the cornfield train yard, and footbridge

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...5A9E25E67?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive.....(should'a look here in the 1st place.......sheeeeeesh)

Those photos of the Braxton Art Gallery are amazing. It looks more elegant and modern than anything that currently exists in Hollywood.

I remember Florentine Gardens as a venue for punk rock shows in the very early 1980s. At the time it was a real dive...but then, most of the places in Hollywood that allowed punk rock bands to perform were dives.

I remember Florentine Gardens as a venue for punk rock shows in the very early 1980s. At the time it was a real dive...but then, most of the places in Hollywood that allowed punk rock bands to perform were dives.[/QUOTE]

I have a photo of my parents having dinner at the Florentine Gardens in the forties but don't know how to upload it...any help?

That last photo of the footbridge is amazing gsjansen.
I also love that 'Strip City' ad from 1957 with "easy to peel' Tangerine.

Here is 'Bazoom Girl".

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/9978/0bazoomgirl.png
latimesblog

Notice one of the MCs at Strip City is Sanford and Son's own Redd Foxx!

for reasons i don't really understand, i have become absolutely fascinated with the old wooden truss footbridge that used to span the cornfield train yards.

here is a link to a great article giving the history of the cornfield yard.

Terry guy, who has amazing train related images on flickr, has an image looking South from the Broadway Bridge across the cornfield train yards, probably taken around 1992 or so, (at least that's what it appears due to the buildings that have been erected downtown), you can see the remains of the footbridge on the right side of the photograph.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/...f74cbec4_o.jpg
Source: Terry Guy's Flickr photostream

it is really a shame, that the footbridge was not preserved and restored as part of the State Park. below are three different images from birdseye maps of los angeles, 1891, 1894, and 1909, centered on the cornfield yards, clearly showing the footbridge.

1891 looking north east across the corn field yard

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/...4204b46b_b.jpg

1894 looking north west across the corn field yard

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2197/...f88e1e4e_b.jpg

1909 looking north west across the corn field yard

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/...2bb80db1_b.jpg

tenacious nothing, i'm bordering on obsessed!